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EP. REVIEW: Your lie in April


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:06 am Reply with quote
This is one of my favorite series from the season so far. The animation, music, characters, and story so far is very appealing to me. And given that it's a 2 cour, I'm sure they will adapt most of the important parts soon too.
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2345
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:08 am Reply with quote
So how does it compare to the juggernaut that is nodame cantabile
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ST0517



Joined: 09 May 2014
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:31 am Reply with quote
It was absolutely beautiful
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 1:01 pm Reply with quote
When I first saw trailers of Your Lie in April, Anohana came to mind. I wanted to see a well crafted, teen drama with touchy subjects. And so far, Your Lie in April has not disappointed. The spoiler[ part showing Kosei being abused by her mother] was though to see, but it shows that the anime is not afraid to go to places like that.

I give the first 2 episodes of Your Lie in April a B+ because I liked them, but they did not blow me away. I look forward to seeing the romance aspect developing more in the upcoming episodes.
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Jajanken



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 680
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 5:20 pm Reply with quote
I really love the sound and art of this show. It deserves the attention its getting. Hopefully aniplex does something to get it here.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 5:33 pm Reply with quote
Enjoying the show, but if it drifts its focus to pure romance rather than music then I'm going to enjoy it a lot less. Can't see any chemistry at all between the two leads. It certainly doesn't help that Kaori's musical style is pretty much taken from Nodame but her character as a whole doesn't have .00001% of the appeal that Nodame had. Hopefully it can build upon that, but at least the music is rather great.
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: earth
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 7:30 pm Reply with quote
Tanteikingdomkey wrote:
So how does it compare to the juggernaut that is nodame cantabile


this is different type of anime than nodame cantabile. you can't compare even though both are about music.
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dm
Subscriber



Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1346
PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 11:14 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the review. I'd passed this series up, but on the strength of this review, I took a look at the first couple of episodes. They were wonderful, though for some reason I kept thinking not of Nodame Cantabile, but of Nisekoi, and a little of Kids on the Slope.

I very much enjoyed the scene where the heroine is introduced playing Pazu's dawn fanfare (thus all the talk of, and scenes of pigeons). And her performance was great. "Friend A's" assessment of her performance was sheer poetry, Wataru doesn't stand a chance.

A great first two episodes. I look forward to more.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:16 am Reply with quote
I know I'm in a danger zone when any reviewer brings up TVtropes brand tropes {copy, right?} such "Magic Pixie Dream Girl" but, right, such tools are useful but really should only be applied at the end of a story as they tend to cloud expectations, if not create them outright.

Honestly, I'm starting to feel I'm watching a completely different show. In what sort of story does the MPDG get her friend to set her up with the "jerk jock" {she's really in love with him! Really!} only to drop him a moment's notice when her friend's other friend, someone who could share her talents, is just standing there? That's a different trope, you know, the one about sheep's clothing...
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 11:12 am Reply with quote
I haven't found Your lie in April to be that full of cliches at all. It uses its tropes well, subverts the most obvious ones, and has serious emotional weight, tempered with a good amount of humor.

For those worried that it will turn into all romance and no music, don't. I have read the manga available in translation and the music is in the foreground and there are life issues other than romance that complicate things along the way.

I can't wait for the 2nd round of the competition! They did the first round well enough that I expect the 2nd round to just kill!
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Animelover12313



Joined: 07 May 2014
Posts: 278
PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 12:12 pm Reply with quote
This is undoubtedly the best anime this season imo. As the reviewer said, in a season full of violence/action this show stands out being a calm, relax, yet tense show. I couldn't careless about any other shows or hype after watching the first few minutes of this show. Something about it just captivated me and as soon as I've finished the 2nd episode, I ran to find the manga to read right away because I was impatient to find out what happens next. And what's coming soon will be amazing! I can't wait to see it animated and see how the anime will have those songs sounds like.
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SailorTralfamadore



Joined: 25 Feb 2014
Posts: 499
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 2:13 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
I know I'm in a danger zone when any reviewer brings up TVtropes brand tropes {copy, right?} such "Magic Pixie Dream Girl" but, right, such tools are useful but really should only be applied at the end of a story as they tend to cloud expectations, if not create them outright.


"Manic Pixie Dream Girl" wasn't created by TVTropes; it was created by former A.V. Club (and current Dissolve) film critic Nathan Rabin in his 2007 review of Elizabethtown. I'm not sure if that's what you meant by "TV-Tropes-brand", but I think he put a lot more thought into creating that term than TVTropes does with most of their ideas, so it's not quite fair to characterize it as that. (And yes, I'm also aware that he's recently "apologized" for creating it, but I also feel entitled to disagree with him. It's a useful concept, and one that especially as a feminist I think is good to look out for with quirky female love interests.)

I'm not a huge fan of TVT's approach to "media analysis" either, but that doesn't mean that tropes and cliches are never relevant to discussing a TV show--especially since the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" association was something that I saw come up a lot on social media and that was, frankly, at the top of my mind just from reading the description even before I saw the show. I know I spent a good deal of time in this review talking about how YLIA sets up and dashes various cliches associated with shows and stories about music, but that's because, frankly, it's hard to wipe away the association with other music anime such as Nodame Cantabile or--as another person mentioned here--Kids on the Slope, if you've seen them. (Especially since Nodame has another "quirky weirdo female love interest" character but who is pretty gross/messy and more painfully-awkward, whereas Kaori so far has mostly been cutely and charmingly awkward.)

It's treading a lot of the same ground as those shows and gunning for a lot of the same audience, so I hope I made a case for why that audience should still check this one out anyway. I can promise I will almost certainly talk about other things in my reviews of the next 20 episodes of this show.

Quote:
Honestly, I'm starting to feel I'm watching a completely different show. In what sort of story does the MPDG get her friend to set her up with the "jerk jock" {she's really in love with him! Really!} only to drop him a moment's notice when her friend's other friend, someone who could share her talents, is just standing there? That's a different trope, you know, the one about sheep's clothing...


Just because a character doesn't tick every single box on the MPDG list doesn't mean they don't qualify; it's about a general concept behind it and the ideas that they raise in the audience (mainly, of quirky independent girls sweeping in to change some wet-blanket dude's life with their manic pixie quirkiness). I've seen plenty of examples where the girl initially wasn't interested in the main guy, or was even interested in a different guy.

But I said in the review that I didn't actually think she was a Manic Pixie Dream Girl myself; it was just something that I saw brought up a lot in discussions about the show, so I felt it was important to address, especially since it's what automatically comes to mind when reading a basic description of it. So, I'm not sure what you're arguing with here...?
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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1823
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:38 am Reply with quote
For those who haven't watched episode 1 yet, listen out for the 20th century composition played with a melodica. Very Happy

(No spoilers please!)
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:25 am Reply with quote
Re: episode 3, Kosei wasn't improvising on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" but playing from Mozart's "12 Variations in C Major on 'Ah vous dirai-je, Maman' (K.265)". It's an elegant connection from something a kid would play to something more sophisticated.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:30 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

It was another pleasant episode to look at and Kaori continues to be a human tornado. Maybe it is just me, but the series can feel slow moving and repetitive. But like the reviewer says:

Quote:
Your lie in April has the talent and the potential to be something unique, and episode 3 points that way forward. If it follows the standard set by this week, it'll be the show to watch this season—not just for music lovers, but for anyone who yearns for a good romance or character piece.


I also hope the roof scene (spoiler[Kaori crying is intriguing]) towards the end of episode 3 signals that the series is going to start moving at a faster pace, and it can truly become the show to watch this season (although, Parasyte is looking like the hit of the season).

Also, I never made the Evangelion connection, and I do not think it would be a good idea to compare Shinji with Kosei.


Last edited by Angel M Cazares on Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:46 am; edited 1 time in total
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